Aurigny’s first long-term lease craft is back in service

G-PEMB is the first of Aurigny’s long-term lease crafts, which entered service last Friday, before needing an unexpected amount of servicing, which put it out of action.

That stretched Aurigny’s service to the limit, especially when short leased aircraft LY-JUP had to stop operating on Monday afternoon and fly to Toulouse, where it has stayed.

But things have now started to improve.

Aurigny has brought back Avanti Air’s D-AASG, which previously helped out earlier in the year, and it helped on a variety of routes on Monday and Tuesday, before heading off for new lease jobs in Germany and Spain.

G-PEMB returned to service yesterday lunchtime, and levels of disruption appear to have eased.

‘We appreciate the understanding and patience of customers who have been affected by disruption over the past few days,’ an Aurigny spokeswoman said yesterday.

‘G-PEMB returned to service this afternoon after a detailed maintenance inspection following the soft launch on Friday.

‘Additional wet-leased capacity has been activated when available and required to assist with delivering our operation while our other ACMI aircraft undergoes unforeseen maintenance in Toulouse.

‘We are doing everything we can to mitigate the impact of knock-on delays and cancellations, and apologise to our customers who have experienced disruption to their travel plans.’

Monday saw a combination of weather and aircraft issues. By Tuesday the weather had cleared up, but aircraft problems caused delays and eventually cancellations for evening rotations for London City, Birmingham and Gatwick.

The spokeswoman said Tuesday’s cancellation, along with a Gatwick rotation yesterday morning, were cancelled due to delays outside the airline’s control.

‘We have attempted to contact all affected customers, however if customers have not heard from us, we would encourage them to contact us on Whatsapp on 07436 422214 or contact our call centre on 01481 267267.

'The Whatsapp channel is not a live chat but is actively managed and monitored until 8pm, while our call centre is open until 5pm.’

The airline would not be drawn on when its second long-term wet-lease aircraft – G-PBOT – was expected to arrive.

It has previously stated it was expected in late August or early September. The most recent news online showed the plane has been stored in Denmark.

• Aurigny urged passengers to keep up to date their flights here.